International Studies
Conferences and Model Programs
Conferences
The opportunity to meet with respected leaders and to engage in meaningful dialogue on foreign policy and international affairs is particularly important to international studies majors who seek a deeper understanding of global issues. These student conferences are highly selective, attracting motivated students who seek an intensive, hands-on learning experience that enables them to grapple with contemporary affairs. Students are selected to participate in student conferences based upon their interests, their abilities, and their potential for success.
Air Force Academy Assembly
Each fall the Department of Political Science and the International Studies program nominate two of their majors to attend the Air Force Academy Assembly. The conference, held in Boulder, Colorado, brings together undergraduates with leaders from business, government and academe over four days to discuss an issue of international significance.
Advisers: Melissa Deckman, Tahir Shad
Center for the Study of the Presidency
Each year the Department of Political Science and the International Studies program nominate one or two students to attend the annual Student Symposium sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Presidency. Students and professors from the nation's major colleges and universities attend panel discussions and keynote addresses on major foreign policy, economic, security and social issues by members of academe and government.
Adviser: Melissa Deckman
Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference
Each spring the Director of the international studies program nominates one student to attend the annual Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference in Annapolis, Maryland. The conference plenary sessions feature speakers of international repute. Delegates attend round table discussions on a special topic area, and are expected to prepare, with the guidance of a designated faculty adviser, a 2500-word paper on some aspect of the year's conference topic.
Advisers: Melissa Deckman, Tahir Shad
Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN)
This student conference is designed especially for women. Each year the Department of Political Science and the International Studies Program nominate one or more students to attend the Women & Congress Seminar and the Women and Public Policy Seminar, organized by PLEN. Participants meet with women in government relations, observe sessions of the House and Senate or the Supreme Court, visit executive agencies, meet with representatives of the media and interest groups, and discuss public issues.
Adviser: Melissa Deckman, Jessica Gerrity
West Point Student Conference on United States Affairs
Each fall the Director of the international studies program nominates one student to attend the annual Student Conference on United States Affairs (SCUSA). The conference brings together undergraduates over four days of plenary discussions and addresses to debate major issues of American foreign policy.
Advisers: Melissa Deckman, Tahir Shad
Model Diplomacy Programs
Washington College students compete with the brightest undergraduates from the best schools in the country, and come out on top more often than not. Their success as model diplomats is the result of careful study and thorough preparation. Months before the scheduled conferences, students immerse themselves in the study of the country they have been chosen to represent. Some students push themselves to prepare further through an optional two-credit class on Model United Nations. Many international studies majors participate in the programs in successive years, and earn recognition for their leadership roles.
Model United Nations
For over twenty years, Washington College delegations have been participating in the international Model United Nations simulation at McGill University in Montreal, currently advised by Andrew Oros. Top Washington College seniors are invited to participate in the World Model UN Conference held in a different location each year, recently in Geneva, the Hague, and Taipei (adviser Tahir Shad).
Security Council Simulation at Yale: Model Diplomacy Writ-Large
A delegation of about fifteen students travels to New Haven, Connecticut to attend the Security Counciul Simulation at Yale University each October. Here, students discuss foreign policy issues in terms of international law and crisis resolution in committees of the Security Council and a wide range of other modeled simulations, including business decisionmaking and diplomacy from the distant past. The three-day simulation, grounded in parliamentary procedure and committee structure, is solid preparation for other, larger Model UN simulations.
Adviser: Andrew Oros
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